In 2004, a slim majority of women — 51% — went for John Kerry over George Bush, whereas this year, 56% of women voted for Obama. In fact, this year, fully 53% of all voters were women! Men, on the other hand, split much more evenly: only 49% of men voted for Obama and 48% of men voted for McCain. By any reckoning, women, more than men, propelled Obama to victory. As The Guardian's Sarah Wildman noted yesterday, women weren't remotely swayed by the presence of a woman on the McCain ticket — so maybe politicians will start treating us like we count and pay attention to the issues.

Of course, it must also be said that all women cannot share in this credit equally. Nearly 52% of white women voted for McCain (and 57% of white men did), according to AP exit polls. On the other hand, minority women voted overwhelmingly for Obama, helping all of us keep and expand our rights to reproductive choice, equal pay and equitable health care access. Overall, 95% of African Americans voted for Obama, but 96% of African-American women did so. And nowhere was the gender gap more striking than among Latino voters — two thirds of whom voted for Obama on Tuesday, says MSNBC:

In Colorado, 78 percent of Hispanic women supported Obama, compared to 73 percent of Hispanic men. In New Mexico, the gap was even greater, with 72 percent of Hispanic women favoring Obama, compared to 65 percent of Hispanic men. And in Texas, where voters overall chose McCain, 71 percent of Hispanic women supported Obama, compared to 55 percent of men, a gender gap of 16 points.

Pollsters attribute those large gender gaps in the Latino community to nothing less than Obama's emphasis on heath care and the affordability of education (as well as his outreach efforts).

In fact, one could even argue that if women make great strides toward full equality under an Obama Administration, it will be because minority women had the good sense to turn out in large numbers and help elect a President who will do us all some good. So, on behalf of the white women of America — more than half of whom, apparently, didn't have to good sense to vote for the President committed to expanding all women's rights — thank you, ladies. And, from those of us white women who weren't so foolish as to vote for John McCain, well, we'll try working on our sisters. We've got 4 years.

Women's Support Proves Key [MSNBC]
Data Points: Gender Gap In The 2008 Election [US News & World Report]
Hispanic Women Swell Ranks Of Obama Support [MSNBC]
Thank You Thursday: Women Voters! [Feministing]

Related: The Sarah Palin Effect [The Guardian]

Earlier: Does Anyone Else Feel Like Their Value As A Voter Has Just Been Discovered?
Seriously, Women Actually Pay Attention To Politics In Other Years, Too

First up, Lois Romano calls it "The Year of The Woman" in the Washington Post, since no one thought that being a woman automatically disqualified Hillary Clinton or Sarah Palin from running for or holding office. That's apparently "news" or "a trend" in the parlance. It's also noteworthy that feminists don't like the misogyny hurled at Sarah Palin and that her position on reproductive choice and initial embrace of the label "feminist" — a label she has since rejected — has sparked a broad discussion about whether feminism as a movement can embrace women with illiberal views on choice. We're also supposed to be excited that Sarah Palin can look cute and hug John McCain and run for office. Well, while I am glad that being attractive doesn't disqualify her but I don't like that she makes it so much a part of her public image and then seems ill-grounded in the issues the candidates are supposed to be running on. Conservative activist and lawyer Cleta Mitchell has a answer to my concerns, though:

"Even if Sarah Palin is as 'unqualified' as the left would have us believe," she wrote recently in the Wall Street Journal, ". . . then former congresswoman Bella Abzug's lifelong goal has been achieved. She used to say that she was 'working for the day when a mediocre woman could get as far as a mediocre man.'

Dick Cheney is many things, but he's not mediocre. Dan Quayle, though... But, no, I'm sorry, I kind of want the woman who breaks the glass ceiling to be more than mediocre, so that no one can come up behind her and superglue it back together.

The Economist notes, rightly, that women vote in larger numbers than men and that while they support Obama by a small margin, "A whopping 60% of women aged 50 and younger have a negative view of Mrs Palin, according to a poll released by the Pew Research Centre on October 21st." While conservatives, including McCain campaign manager Rick Davis, have said that's because we're jealous of her being pretty and happy, could it be because women are paying attention and aren't keen about the winking, the hair-tossing or her stance on many issues? The Economist thinks that might just be possible:

Mr McCain has left traditional women's issues to Mr Obama - in the final debate the Republican candidate derided women's "health" as an excuse for abortions. The campaign is instead pursuing women through broad arguments of character, leadership and policy — something similar to the appeal to "security moms”"that worked well for George Bush in 2004.

That is, in fact, what they're trying to do — get us to stop paying attention to the issues and think John McCain is just a bang-up guy. Whatevs, people, fool us once...

Finally, JoNel Aleccia at MSNBC puts together a strong piece debunking myths about women voters that, since it needs to be said at all, makes my head want to meet my desk (if I had one...a desk, that is). The myths dispelled include the idea that the McCain campaign was trying to take advantage of the female vote with Palin's nomination, that we vote less often, that we vote only on "women's issues" — as though the economy and the health care system and the war have no effect on our lives — and that the gender gap is growing and it's our fault (in fact, men are the more fickle voters). Now if only we could get someone to debunk the idea causing all these stories to get approved that play into the stereotype that women don't normally care this much.

Ideology Aside, This Has Been the Year of the Woman [Washington Post]
Palin Changes Tune On Feminist Label [CNN]
Hard To Get [The Economist]
Rick Davis: Palin Drives 'Liberal Feminists' Crazy Because She's 'Attractive,' 'Competent,' and 'Happy.' [Think Progress]
When XX Marks The Ballot: Six Gender Myths [MSNBC]

Earlier: Does Anyone Else Feel Like Their Value As A Voter Has Just Been Discovered?

From focus grouping us to advertising to us to appearing on TV for us, candidates aren't just interested in soccer moms anymore! We're just as cute as soccer moms, anyway.

Partly, obviously, this is a matter of demographics. Women have voted in larger numbers than men in every election since 1964 and in higher percentages in every election since 1980. There are more of us registered — and more of women are undecided than men.

One the other hand, married women tend to vote more reliably Republican — and, until recently, represented more than half of the population of women voters. But unmarried women now represent more than 26 percent of the eligible voting population. Even better, insofar as both campaigns are concerned, they represent an untapped voting block - in 2004, fully 41% of unmarried women didn't vote, which skews the so-called "marriage gap" that shows married women voting Republican and unmarried women trending Democratic.

And, among (particularly) white women voters, Sarah Palin's entry into the race and the economic crisis has swung the polls every which way, leaving both candidates confused as to where we stand. So they keep running ads for us and giving interviews for us and talking about the issues that matter to us to try to get us to lean their direction (and come out to the polls for them). So, really, they are kind of doing exactly what boys do when they finally notice you — paying you tons of attention until you make up for mind about them, at which point they'll move on to the next undecided demographic. Is it anti-feminist to suggest that maybe we ought to play a little harder to get? I really don't think I've heard enough about health care, pay equity, comprehensive sex education or reproductive rights. Yoo-hoo! I'm totally undecided!

(Also: please note the part where 41 percent of unmarried women didn't vote in 2004 and call your single friends and acquaintances and make sure this doesn't happen again or they will ignore us in 2012. Kthnxbai!)

Did Women Like Sarah Palin? [Swampland]
McCain's Media Strategy On Women [Portfolio]
McCain Courts Women Voters [CNN]
The Gender Gap And the 2004 Women's Vote [Center For American Women and Politics]
Married? Single? Status Affects How Women Vote [USA Today]
Sex And The Single Women's Vote [ABC]
The Unmarried Women's Vote [Women's Voices, Womens Vote]
Exclusive: McCain Closes Huge Gap On Key Question For Women [Politico]
Stephanopoulos: Independent Voters Hold White House Key [ABC]
Barack Obama Poll Surge Makes John McCain Comeback Unlikely [The Australian]